The FHH Journal editors

An exceptional timepiece enters the Marine collection as a limited edition of 30. This flying tourbillon with a three-dimensional Moon, tide indicator and anchor-shaped power-reserve indicator is as sophisticated as a luxury yacht.

An extension of the Marine Grand Deck Tourbillon watch launched by Ulysse Nardin in 2016, this new complication model christened the “Marine Mega Yacht” follows the tradition of the Marine collection and the passion for all things nautical that has been a constant feature of the Ulysse Nardin Manufacture ever since its foundation in 1846. While the earlier model celebrated the world of sailboats and luxury liners, this new Mega Yacht creation is dedicated to the owners of these prestigious, contemporary vessels.

With its diameter of 44mm, this is an instrument specially conceived for the modern adventurer who models himself on Captain Nemo. To craft this watch’s manually wound Manufacture mechanical caliber (regulated by a tourbillon), Ulysse Nardin has used its very best watchmakers, who have worked with supreme commitment alongside those from the Christophe Claret manufacture, a brand universally recognized for designing innovative watch complications in its workshops. Innovative and completely visible through its transparent case-back, the movement is designed to resemble the engines found in a vessel’s engine room.

A glimpse of the engine room

This powerful beating heart of the watch has a diameter of 37mm, features 504 components, and is wound by hand. It guarantees a power reserve of 80 hours at a cruising speed of 21,600 vibrations per hour, with the tourbillon moving at 60 rotations per hour (or one rotation every 60 seconds). Its first role is to provide an analog time display, giving a three-dimensional presentation of the phases of the Moon. It contains a mechanism that displays the height of the tides in real time in relation to a specific location, in addition to indicating the seasonal coefficients. Once the mechanism has been adjusted by the action of the winding-crown, the position of this is measured in a window opened up in the side of the watch-band in the same way as the screen of a Chadburn Telegraph. Because watchmaking is above all an art form, the anchor features a contemporary design fashioned in the form of a plowshare, and is linked to the chain by an anchor ring. Although this may appear to be entirely decorative, the anchor chain actually moves in response to the movements of the winding-crown so as to indicate the power reserve. Keen to be as realistic as possible, Ulysse Nardin has perfected an authentic miniature windlass, visible at 12 o’clock. Through the action of a set of wheels in contact with the winding mechanism, the windlass turns to simulate the raising of the anchor, even when the winding process has been fully completed.